Mr.Webs
Something Witty Here
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- Apr 30, 2002
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Wilco - I am trying to break your heart
I am an American aquarium drinker
I assassin down the avenue
I'm hiding out in the big city blinking
What was I thinking when I let go of you?
Let's forget about the tongue-tied lightning
Let's undress just like cross-eyed strangers
This is not a joke, so please stop smiling
What was I thinking when I said it didn't hurt?
I want to glide through those brown eyes dreaming
Take it from the inside, baby hold on tight
You were so right when you said that I've been drinking
What was I thinking when I said good night?
I want to hold you in the Bible-black predawn
You're quite a quiet domino, bury me now
Take off your Band-Aid because I don't believe in touchdowns
What was I thinking when I said hello?
I'd always thought that if I held you tightly
You'd always love me like you did back then
Then I fell asleep and the city kept blinking
What was I thinking when I let you back in?
I am trying to break your heart
I am trying to break your heart
But still I'd be lying if I said it wasn't easy
I am trying to break your heart
Disposable Dixie-cup drinking
I assassin down the avenue
I'm hiding out in the big city blinking
What was I thinking when I let go of you?
loves you
I'm the man who loves you
The words of a guy who is completely hammered and trying to express his emotions towards an ex. What makes this song even better is that I'm pretty sure the story is told in reverse. Read the lyrics from the last line to the first and it makes more sense. First, he's the man who loves her, then he starts drinking (although not that much - Dixie Cup), and finally at the end of their on and off again relationship (at the beginning of the song), he's an "aquarium drinker," showing how his relationship with this woman has led to alcoholism, or close to it. Excellent song.
When I came into this thread, that was the exact song I was going to post. Some of the best lyrics I've heard in a long while. And the way he sings it, in almost a drunken murmur, is perfect. Brilliant observation, by the way.

Most of the lyrics in Wilco's songs can fit here. Like "You Are My Face".
I remember my mothers
Sisters husbands brother
Working in the goldmine full-time
Filling in for sunshine
Filing into tight lines
Of ordinary beehives
The door screams I hate you
Hate you hanging around my blue jeans
Why is there no breeze
No currency of leaves
No current through the water wire
No feelings I can see
I trust no emotion
I believe in locomotion
But I've turned to rust as we've discussed
Though I must have let you down
too many times
In the dirt and the dust
I have no idea how this happens
All of my maps have been overthrown
Happenstance has changed my plans
So many times my heart has been outgrown
Now everybodys feeling all alone
Cant tell you who I am
When everybodys feeling all alone
Cant tell you who I am
I am looking forward
Toward the shadows tracing bones
Our faces stitched and sewing
Our houses hemmed into homes
Trying to be thankful
Our stories fit into phones
And our voices lift so easily
A gift given accidentally
When were not sure
Were not alone
Sisters husbands brother
Working in the goldmine full-time
Filling in for sunshine
Filing into tight lines
Of ordinary beehives
The door screams I hate you
Hate you hanging around my blue jeans
Why is there no breeze
No currency of leaves
No current through the water wire
No feelings I can see
I trust no emotion
I believe in locomotion
But I've turned to rust as we've discussed
Though I must have let you down
too many times
In the dirt and the dust
I have no idea how this happens
All of my maps have been overthrown
Happenstance has changed my plans
So many times my heart has been outgrown
Now everybodys feeling all alone
Cant tell you who I am
When everybodys feeling all alone
Cant tell you who I am
I am looking forward
Toward the shadows tracing bones
Our faces stitched and sewing
Our houses hemmed into homes
Trying to be thankful
Our stories fit into phones
And our voices lift so easily
A gift given accidentally
When were not sure
Were not alone
Or "Via Chicago".
I dreamed about killing you again last night
And it felt alright to me
Dying on the banks of Embarcadero skies
I sat and watched you bleed
Buried you alive in a fireworks display
Raining down on me
Your cold, hot blood
Ran away from me to the sea
I printed my name on the back of a leaf
And I watched it float away
The hope I had in a notebook full of white dry pages
Was all I tried to save
But the wind blew me back via Chicago
In the middle of the night
And not without fight
At the crush of veils and starlight
I know I'll make it back
One of these days
And turn on your TV
To watch a man with a face like mine
Being chased down a busy street
When he gets caught, I won't get up
And I won't go to sleep
I'm coming home
I'm coming home
Via Chicago
Where the cups are cracked and hooked
Above the sink
They make me think
Crumbling ladder tears don't fall
They shine down your shoulders
And crawling is screw faster lash
I blow it with kisses
I rest my head on a pillowy star
And a cracked-door moon
That says I haven't gone too far
I'm coming home
I'm coming home
I'm coming home
Via Chicago
Coming home
Coming home
Coming home
Searching for a home
Searching for a home
Searching for a home
Via Chicago
I'm coming home
I'm coming home
And it felt alright to me
Dying on the banks of Embarcadero skies
I sat and watched you bleed
Buried you alive in a fireworks display
Raining down on me
Your cold, hot blood
Ran away from me to the sea
I printed my name on the back of a leaf
And I watched it float away
The hope I had in a notebook full of white dry pages
Was all I tried to save
But the wind blew me back via Chicago
In the middle of the night
And not without fight
At the crush of veils and starlight
I know I'll make it back
One of these days
And turn on your TV
To watch a man with a face like mine
Being chased down a busy street
When he gets caught, I won't get up
And I won't go to sleep
I'm coming home
I'm coming home
Via Chicago
Where the cups are cracked and hooked
Above the sink
They make me think
Crumbling ladder tears don't fall
They shine down your shoulders
And crawling is screw faster lash
I blow it with kisses
I rest my head on a pillowy star
And a cracked-door moon
That says I haven't gone too far
I'm coming home
I'm coming home
I'm coming home
Via Chicago
Coming home
Coming home
Coming home
Searching for a home
Searching for a home
Searching for a home
Via Chicago
I'm coming home
I'm coming home